Bella Dodd

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Bella V. Dodd (1904–1969) was a leader of the Communist Party of America (CPUSA) in the 1930s and 1940s.

[edit] Biography

Bella Dodd was born to Rocco Visono and Teresa Marsica in Picerno, Italy and baptized Maria Assunta Isabella in October 1904.

A brilliant and dedicated woman, she graduated from Hunter College and New York University Law School. She became head of the New York State Teachers Union and was a member of the National Council of the CPUSA until 1949.^[1] In June of 1949 the Communist Party released a statement to the Associated Press announcing her expulsion from membership.

Dr. Bella Dodd wrote: "To the New York newspapers the story of the expulsion of a woman Communist was merely one more story. It was handled in the routine way. I winced, however, when reputable papers headlined the Communist Party charges and used the words "fascism" and "racism," even though I knew these words were only quoted from the Party resolution."

On Tuesday, August 5, 1952 she publicly announced that on April 7th of the same year, she was received back into the Roman Catholic Church. Not being able to secure her baptismal certificate from Italy after inquiry, she was therefore conditionally baptized by Bishop Fulton J. Sheen in St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York.

On the front page of the New York Times for March 11, 1953, the headline ran: Bella Dodd Asserts Reds Got Presidential Advisory Posts, and it reported that she, "swore before the Senate Internal Security subcommittee today that Communists had got into many legislative offices of Congress and into a number of groups advising the President of the United States."

The New York Times reported on March 8, 1954 that Bella Dodd: "...warned yesterday that the "materialistic philosophy," which she said was now guiding public education, would eventually demoralize the nation."

In her book, "School of Darkness" (1954)^[2] she gives evidence to support the claim that Communism was a hoax perpetrated by financiers "to control the common man" and to advance world tyranny.

She also claimed that the communist party actively infiltrated agents into seminaries.^[3]

She died in April 1969 at the age of 64.